George Lucas Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

George Lucas Archives - ShowBizCafe.com

As you might have heard, Disney purchased Lucasfilm for 4 billion dollars, and with it, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones saga. The big talks to come out of that deal is that Disney is gun-ho on continuing the Star Wars saga, ergo, the seventh chapter of the series. For now Indy is out of the conversation.

With a look into the future of the iconic sci-fi franchise, we pick 10 directors – Hispanic directors – that possess the skill, vision and passion to take it into the next 35 years. By selecting these helmers and cinephiles, we break Hollywood conventions and give rise to a new generation of directors whom most likely grew up wanting to be the new George Lucas, laser-sword fighting like Luke Skywalker, quoting Han Solo, crushing on Princess Leia and fearing Darth Vader.

So without further adieu, we pick the Top 10 Hispanic directors we think can and should helm the new Star Wars trilogy.Read More

‘Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures’ on Blu-ray is the ultimate collector’s item. For the first time ever all four movies are together in one pack and what’s even better they’ve been digitally re-mastered in high definition. It features a two-part documentary called ‘On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark’, also rarely seen on set footage and interviews with director Steven Spielberg, Executive producer George Lucas and Harrison Ford. For anybody who’s and Indiana Jones fan this is a must have.

This is a great way to spend a Sunday with the family, as it will take a whole day to watch: ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade‘ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ along with a 5th disc which contains about 7 hours of new material and archival content. The original negative was scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired as well as the sound, as Ben Burtt explained to us he used his archived material from 1981 for the improvements. With carful restoration and the correction of small technical flaws this is all of Indiana Jones adventures to the maximum.

It all beings with ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, which was completely restored and played in select IMAX movie theaters, the sound and images of the re-mastered film, are phenomenal. Watching this in the movie theaters was fantastic, but to be able to sit at home and watch all four films in Blu-ray in high definition is a real treat. It’s kind of surreal to watch something that was made in the 80’s and for it to look and sound like it was done in the year 2012 as the colors are vibrant and never dull and the whip cracks and shots are louder than ever.

It’s a nice way to re-live all the adventures as if it were the first time, being re-introduced to the characters, environments and surrounding stories once more while appreciating each magnificent treasure one after the next. To see Karen Allen and Sean Connery once more in their glory was very entertaining and it goes without mentioning that seeing Harrison Ford in his role of a lifetime with this high definition and sound not only made me swoon, but made me respect him even more as an actor. For everyone who’s waited to have these classic films together, it has all been worth it.

Disc 4—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The disc includes the following:

Disc 5 – Bonus Features Bonus features are presented in standard and high definition (as indicated below) in English with English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.

NEW – On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark – From Jungle to Desert – From Adventure to Legend

Making the Films – The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981 documentary previously unavailable on DVD) – The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark – The Making of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – The Making of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – The Making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (HD)

Finally, people will stop saying “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” was the bad one. “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” opens in the thick of the cold war, with Soviet agents forcing Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to retrieve a mysterious artifact of great power. This early sequence and the few that follow it are when the cold war theme and anti-communist paranoia are most evident.

But shortly after, the story circles back to an extraterrestrial theme, which comes off extremely leaden here. The film briefly mentions Indy’s years of service as a colonel in World War Two, and his turn as a double agent in Berlin. I for one would have MUCH preferred to watch a movie called something like “The Treacherous Colonel Indiana Jones and the Valkyries of the Führer.” It’s not that the alien theme of this movie disappointed me, not in the least; it’s that once “Crystal Skull” sinks into that mystery, it loses the spirit of the 1950s suspense and horror movies it should be aping.

All those 50s genre movies were charged with the public’s fears: the cold war, nuclear weapons, communist subversion (or satire on the unfounded fear of that subversion), etc. Spielberg placed touches of that on the surface, but not the slightest hint of the subtext that can be explored so eloquently with that era. When only “Crystal Skull” flirts with these themes is when the Soviet Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) describes the power of the titular skull: mind control. I was reminded of one of the classics of cold war paranoia, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” albeit without the slightest subtlety. And aside from that description, we never again identify what exactly the skull’s power is – we never get to really see it in action. Spielberg breaks the first rule of the very adventure storytelling he perfected into an art form: show, don’t tell.